This is page 328 of An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby/Vigfusson (1874)

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K (ká) is the tenth letter of the alphabet; in the common Runes it was represented by RUNE (kaun); the Anglo-Saxon k was called ceân or cên = Germ. kien, a pine or fir-tree; but as this was not a Norse word, the Scandinavians represented it by the Norse word nearest in sound to it, kaun (a boil or scab), which bears witness of the Anglo-Saxon origin of the old Norse Runic poem.

B. PRONUNCIATION. -- The k is sounded hard or aspirate, the pronunciation varying as that of g does, see p. 186; it is hard in kaldr, koma, kunna, aspirate in kel, kem, kenna, kið, kyssa, kæti, keyri, vekja, etc.; the only difference is that k has the same sound, whether initial or medial, kaka, kíkir, just as in English: in modern Danish the medial k has been softened into g, e.g. Icel. sök, vaka, líka, Engl. sake, wake, like, are in Danish sounded sag, vaage, lige, whereas Sweden and Norway as well as Iceland have kept the old pronunciation. 2. the letter k before t and s is sounded as g, thus okt and ogt, þykkt and þygt, slíks and slígs are sounded alike; and so k is now and then misplaced in MSS., e.g. lakt = lagt, heilakt = heilagt. The spelling and other points referring to k have already been treated under C, p. 93; for qu = kv see Gramm. p. xxxvi. (II. i. δ).

C. CHANGES. -- The change of initial kn into hn has been mentioned in the introduction to letter H (B. II. 2. γ), where however 'hnefi' ought to be struck out of the list: for the changes of nk into kk see the introduction to letter N. II. according to Grimm's law, the Teut. k answers to the Gr. and Lat. g; thus Lat. genus, genu, gent-is, Gr. GREEK = Icel. kyn, kné, kind, etc.: but in borrowed words no change has taken place, as in Keisari, kista, kerti, kjallari, = Lat. Caesar, cista, cera, cella; the words borrowed in that way are verv numerous in this letter, but there are some slang or vulgar words, which seem not borrowed, and yet no change has taken place.

kaffe, n. coffee; kaffe-kvern, kaffe-bolli, kaffe-ketill, a coffee-mill, coffee-cup, coffee-pot; derived from the Fr. café through Dan. caffe, and not older than the 18th century, for the satirical poem Þagnarmál of 1728 and Eggert Ólafsson (died 1768) mention tea and tobacco, but not coffee, which came into use in Icel. as a popular beverage not earlier than the end of the 18th century.